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NEW PRESIDENT TAKES HELM OF CHAMBER
In February 2006 my husband Peter and my two son’s Shaun and Alec moved to Rotorua from Auckland, after purchasing the Silver Fern Accommodation & Spa, after rebranding and including a Beauty and Day Spa.
Prior to the move I was the Business systems Manager for Weston Milling, looking after HR, customer services, Health & Safety and food safety for 3 flour mills in NZ plus a stock feed mill. During this time I completed a combined Auckland and Harvard Universities certificate in Managerial Excellence.
Previously I spent 13 years as Business Excellence Manager for DHL Worldwide Express and left shortly after completing a 3 year and 10 million dollar building project comprising of offices, sorting and logistics centre and aircraft hardstand at the Auckland International Airport.
Having spent 20 years in a corporate environment involving a lot of travel, we decided to focus on what really mattered to us both as a family and as individuals. Running our own business and being home with time for our kids was high on the list and as Rotorua was a place where we would spend many weekends away, with a good tourism market for the accommodation sector we wished to be involved in, it became the perfect choice.
I am pleased to be involved with a Chamber that has such a high focus on it’s members needs and the business community as a whole. In the two years I have been with the Chamber I have been proud to work with a team of dedicated and hardworking business people who all share the same passion for growing Rotorua’s business opportunities.
The Rotorua Chamber of Commerce Executive for this year consists of;
Michelle Pleydell - President , Chair Management & Finance Committee
Mike Johnson - Vice President
Christa George - Immediate Past President
Steve Pinder - Chair Membership Committee
Margriet Theron - Chair Advocacy Committee
Grant Kilby
Aaron Gillions
Roger Brady
Roger Gordon, CEO, Chair Business Excellence Committee
Mark Dyer Chair RMA Committee & Non executive Member.
With the combined depth and breadth of knowledge and skills of your executive I am confident of the abilities of this team to deliver a consistent high level of service to our members.
Rotorua is well positioned to cater for growth. We already have well established manufacturing, forestry and tourism business companies with many involved in export and domestic markets, and our geographic location should allow for more business investment in this region. Improved Transport portals will allow for easy access to Tauranga port, Auckland, Waikato and the lower north island markets, and the introduction of Trans Tasman capability will only add to increase this capability.
Rotorua is a great place where you can move from your day to day business to outdoor pursuits in a matter of minutes, making this a wonderful place to pursue a great work life balance.
The Chamber is committed to assist in this growth through the provision of business services to advise and inform businesses and to lobby for the provision of integral infrastructure to achieve this.
Recent growth statistics show Rotorua’s growth at 2.5% this rate needs to at least double to ensure a positive rate of growth to sustain our local economy, and to start to move us ahead.
In 2007 The Chamber released it’s Local Authority Manifesto. This document highlighted issues concerning our members that are considered important to our business environment to encourage growth. I wish to see that these issues are highlighted, debated and bought to the attention of our local council for inclusion in the local planning and infrastructural development for the sustainable growth of our city.
These issues are;
- A Business friendly and supportive approach from Council to development proposals
- A well defined plan and the provision of suitable infrastructure for strong business growth.
- A commitment to improving the lakes water quality
- Strong leadership uniting stakeholders to achieve growth
- A clear, integrated and coordinated vision for the Inner City of Rotorua
- A Tourism promotion strategy that repositions Rotorua as the premier tourist destination in New Zealand.
- More involvement of business through consultation on issues relevant to business.
- Inclusion of a broadband infrastructure development strategy in the District plan
- Encouragement to establish new businesses
- A proactive approach to environmental sustainability in building and operational requirements.
- A co-ordinated energy strategy (supply & demand) in the district Plan
- Reduced size and cost of Local Government
Some of these issues are of a nature that will require debate even at business level as to what is specifically required, and you, as members can contribute through your involvement in forums, survey feedback, and submission support.
There is already a commitment to the quality of the lakes water, including the announcement of a governmental grant to assist with this clean up. The Transport plans are coming to light, but with these we need to cater for the development for business growth, for local jobs, and economic growth.
The issue of Broadband and our ability to connect and communicate electronically is holding us back. We need to ensure development of this very necessary service is catered for. With an International capability at the airport to come on stream, strong, reliable high speed electronic medium becomes even more important when tourist operators want to book online all accommodation, activities, and tourism related activities.
Export opportunities, made in Rotorua and sent to all corners of the world won’t happen if Rotorua companies cannot access their international markets. These types of issues hamper economic growth opportunities, and we need to urge our local government representatives to cater to the needs of it’s business community to assist us in the growth Rotorua needs, and to sustain Rotorua with the infrastructure and capital outlay many business have already invested in Rotorua.
In this issue of our tabloid the RMA committee has produced an article that outlines a proposed range of ideas and concepts from local planners, architects, lawyers and surveyors of how Rotorua could look and feel in the future.
Please take your time to review these concepts and lets look to the future of positive growth for Rotorua.
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Bizpac - Banking that works for your business
Westpac has just launched its new one-stop-shop service, Bizpac, designed specifically for business customers looking for two things: Getting the essentials in place, and wanting tailored banking solutions to suit their specific business needs.
Let’s look at those:
The Essentials
The ‘essentials’ includes everything from having the right business transactional account and knowing how to manage tax obligations, to using practical cash flow solutions and knowing the best way to do your everyday banking even when the branch doors are closed.
Tailored Banking
A more tailored approach can include understanding which insurance policies are relevant for your specific line of business, exploring our EFTPOS and credit card payment systems.
Or, for those planning to invest in new equipment – single, one-off purchases like an x-ray machine or multiple, ongoing items, such as fleet vehicles, we have Westpac Equipment Finance. And if these items are to be sourced from overseas, look no further than our Import Direct service. Whatever business customers need to complete the bigger picture, our dedicated business specialists are ready to guide you and recommend solutions at every step.
Bizpac is ideal for all small to medium sized businesses, whether you are just starting up, have been up and running for years or are looking to expand and take your business to the next level. Wherever you are on your business journey, use Bizpac as a financial health check with tools and advice that could result in greater efficiencies and more time and money saved.
Start the process by picking up a Bizpac brochure at your local branch and work through the short checklist. This will help you work out any areas that may have been overlooked or those which are in need of an overhaul. Then flick to the appropriate section of your brochure where you’ll find a quick product or service overview. What you’ll learn here will be the ideal starting point for talking with one of our business specialists about where to go from here.
Once you have signed up for three of our recommended Bizpac products, you can also take away our free Business Resource Centre, contained on a handy 1GB USB memory stick. You’ll find it packed with useful tips, tools and advice, as well as more detailed information about Westpac banking products for business owners.
Ask about Bizpac today and experience banking that works for your business. After all, once you have the essentials in place and you have completed the big picture, you can get back to what you do best – making your business a success.
If you’d like to arrange a meeting with one of Westpac’s business specialists, or you’d just like to know a bit more about Bizpac, call Westpac on 0800 177 567.
Terms, conditions, fees and charges apply to Westpac products and services
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Does Your Web Content answer the visitors question…?
Have you noticed that you are getting traffic on your web site but the “bounce-rate” (see below) is high and sales enquiries are just not happening…?
It could be because of the content on your web site is not answering the questions that the visitors are arriving with.
There are only three way people can arrive at your web site: -
- By typing the web address into a browser
- By doing a search in a search engine
- By following a link from another web site or email
In each of these cases the visitor has initiated the request – that is – they think that your web site has the information (the answer) that they seek.
Having a web site is an investment that should be returning more bottom line income to your business – or at the very least a web site should be increasing the opportunity for new income from new sales enquires.
If your web site isn’t turning visitors into sales enquiries or real sales with their first visit - it may also be turning people off for the future – you only have one chance to make a great first impression.
Getting sales enquires and making sales directly from your web site turn a cost center into a profit center.
Everyone likes helpful web sites and having a virtual sales force that talk about how helpful and informative your web site is makes great sense in business and can lead to sales opportunities.
Great web sites are the ones that answer the questions the visitor arrives with – these could be “where do I buy…” or “how do I buy…” or it could be “I’ve got pain that I want taken away…” – in each case great content would answer these directly – bad content would not address the problem – but may only suggest a solution but not state “how” it fixes the problem.
Plan your web site’s content from the point of view of helping the web visitor rather than just “selling” something. Have real life examples of how your products or services can be used to the web visitors benefit.
Tell stories in the content to give web visitors a better idea og how your existing customers are being helped through the use of your products or services – these can also be great search engine bait too.
My company offers a web site review process where we come to you and explore the results you want from the project and then make recommendations that can be implemented to improve the results from your web site.
Contact: -
Russell Holland
http://www.ectoolset.com/
rus@ectoolset.com
*Bounce Rate – using Google Analytics free web site statistics tool you can see how many people came into your web site – and then left without looking at a single page. This is expressed as a percentage of total visitors – so a high bounce rate means you have visitors that are leaving because your web site doesn’t answer the questions they arrive with. A low bounce rate is desirable as it show good targeted traffic arriving at your site and spending time to look around at more than one page.
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BUILDING OUR COMMUNITY
A visionary review by the Chamber of Commerce of current and future physical opportunities for building the community of Rotorua.
This review is the result of a workshop of locally based Chamber of Commerce members who are experienced town planners, lawyers, surveyors, architects and policy planners who worked with other representatives of the Chambers Membership to fuse their combined skills and local knowledge to formulate a range of integrated development concepts and policies that would generate public discussion and positive pressure for building the future community of Rotorua.
It is the workshops view that concepts and policies such as these need to be allowed for in any current planning in order that future implementation is not so compromised that the optimal solutions become impossible. Our future depends on the planning of our city, and district, taking a more pro-active and less re-active roll based on co-ordinate plans and policies that will encourage sustainable, quality and appropriate development, redevelopment and growth for Rotorua and District.
The following statements are not seen as utopian but as collection of practical integrated and balanced concepts that are in the medium and long term likely to become a successful reality, if planned for now.
We have assumed a sustained rate of population and economic growth that is significantly more than Rotorua has seen in recent years, possibly to a doubling of population over the next 50 years. We believe that positive Council business orientated economic policies (such as the international airport development), and the ideas contained herein should stimulate growth considerably.
A. TRANSPORTATION
The future is not simply more roads and more parking.
This is especially true for the CBD. Unless Rotorua goes into a state of economic decline, which is most unlikely, it is inevitable that in time:
- Pedestrian priority in shopping and residential areas will increase, with pedestrian malls becoming the preferred norm for shoppers.
- Use of bicycles, and mobility devices such Segways, will increase and need to be provided for in manner where their users are safe from motorised traffic.
- The use of public transport will increase. This will primarily be buses but could include trams and light rail.
- Inter City Rail transport will eventually return to Rotorua and this should be planned for rather than compromised.
- International flights into Rotorua will be frequent and most likely several each day, domestic flights will increase as a result.
- Private car use will increase, and until hybrid, electric and fuel cell vehicles become the only ones permitted in the CBD air pollution levels will increase. The social and economic cost of private vehicle usage will increase and planning policies need to focus on public transport alternatives and forms of urban development that facilitate and encourage public transport.
A co-ordinated transportation policy is required that provides not only for current pressures but for longer term future needs. This requires a review not only of transportation modes but also the location of urban activities and their densities (these are discussed later in this review). With these points in mind the following transportation options are considered worthy of further consideration.
Accordingly:
1. We should not be planning for more private cars to be accommodated in the CBD, more parking means greater peak hour flows, with more congestion and more roads. Less parking available will mean a greater use of public transport and less congestion. We note that congestion is not a serious problem at the problem but an increase population and a more viable properly developed CBD will result in traffic congestion if parking not restricted.
Parking restrictions should commence with discouragement of all day worker parking and include restrictions such a parking on licensed premises (so as to discourage drink driving).
The exception will be for inner city residents who should be given priority parking adjacent to their homes where on site parking is not available. Electric vehicles could be given priority parking.
2. Parking and driving in the CBD will eventually be restricted if it is to be people/pedestrian friendly and an attractive place for tourist and locals. Large areas of urban land set aside for parking, roads and service lanes do not improved the city’s appearance, efficiency or general utility. This needs to be planned for now.’ car parks should be integrated into the design. Urban design principles that facilitate interlinked residential ‘villages’ each with a viable centre with related open spaces, and connecting cycle/walkways. Roading and parking layouts and design needs to be reworked so as to enhance and encourage these local centres.
3. An appraisal of what is appropriate for big box retail development in terms of location and design is required. In this respect the City’s Urban Design Guide needs to be expanded so as to provide for the best possible retail environment whether it be big box, or large to small shops, with greater physical, economic and visual integration.
4. The random spreading of big box outlets around the city needs to be controlled, with new locations carefully considered and possibly replacing poorly relocated industrial development.
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E. HOUSING
In recent years the phenomena of ‘Lifestyle Blocks’ and ‘Gated Communities’ have come to Rotorua with the inevitable effect that residential densities are massively reduced, all services are stretched and amenities for the residents of these areas virtually non-existent unless they get into a car and drive back to the old residential areas or the CBD. The negative effects are many but of major concern is the covering of the hills around the city with scattered houses and the appearance of a house on every little hillock. The significant social segregation that these developments encourage, the locking out of quality agricultural land, and the pushing out of the edge of the country side for those who live in town are all very negative effects. While such developments command high property prices and are obviously desirable to some, in town planning terms they are highly undesirable. They meet no sustainability standards, are environmentally unsatisfactory and socially divisive.
The only exception to this are carefully designed villages/cluster housing and ‘Farm Parks’. The later being possibly the only acceptable very low density model for the future and even these must allow public access and be designed not to encourage social segregation.
Infill development is not occurring in Rotorua as fast as it should be. There are too many pockets of semi derelict and unkempt areas within present residential areas. Development of these areas must be encouraged before houses spread across the countryside in all directions. The advantage of infill development and increasing existing densities is that existing utilities can be plugged into, bus services can operate more efficiently, local shops become more viable and small local shopping centres slowly improve, community spirit, support and security is increased (when neighbours know and talk to each other), private car use is significantly reduced, deliveries are easier, community services and schools are closer at hand, and development costs are far lower (home owners will get more for their money). Residential developments within current residential areas can be significantly encouraged by removing resource consent requirements for subdivisions, and dropping Development Levies in these areas. At the same time Sub Division/Resource Consents for life style blocks and gated communities should require significant proof of need, sustainability and social benefit, with Development Levies that truly reflect immediate and long term costs to the community.
This of course does not apply to the development of true villages, existing or proposed. True villages are socially balanced, sustainable, have a small eco footprint, are not built to low densities and can be efficiently serviced. Related subdivision rules should encourage urban design quality, the integration of built forms and their relationship to the natural environment. The focus should be on amenity value rather than standard set backs, plot sizes, rigid zone usage, plot ratios, minimum street widths, etc. that inevitably prevent the development true villages that can have windy narrow roads and features such as village greens often surrounded by central amenities. Maori villages with their restricted road widths and central community facilities are often some of our nicer residential environments albeit often lacking the money to reach their true potential.
tside of working hours Roger loves walking in the Redwood Forest and kayaking on the lakes. “Ultimately business is all about people and the networks that they bring. I am excited by the opportunity to be part of the Rotorua Chamber Executive and give something back to the wonderful community that has made Dinnie and I so welcome. I also believe that I can add significant value by sharing the experience gained over many years in business to help business here in Rotorua.”
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